246: Chapter 246 9000 Years

"Remaining time: 8999 years, 364 days, 23 hours."

Inside a sealed world.

Zhang Huaiyuan watched the countdown timer begin, took a deep breath, and adjusted his state to its peak.

This was the longest period of study in his life—a full nine thousand years.

Of course, the task was equally heavy.

Everyone, including his senior brothers, hoped he would master at least a hundred mainstream disciplines to a level close to a Junior Scholar, which meant Level 40.

Currently, apart from Virtual Technology and Material Science, which could reach this level with the help of True Sight, everything else was far behind.

"Let's begin."

He carefully took a tube from a row of dozens of reagents and swallowed a third of it.

This was a gift from his Second Senior Brother, a reagent called "Absolute Focus" that sold for a full 1 million time coins per tube on the association's trading platform.

Its function was somewhat similar to the "inspiration boiling potion," but its effect was over a thousand times greater.

After use, one could discard all stray thoughts and maintain the most efficient learning state.

With a thought, a book labeled "Compulsory Education: Advanced Edition" fell into his hand.

The entire set of knowledge, organized from simple to profound, immediately merged into his mind.

At this moment, Zhang Huaiyuan once again personally experienced the benefits of having a powerful faction behind him.

He didn't have to bother searching for anything; all the knowledge had already been arranged in the order easiest to master.

Level 31... Level 32... With the foundation from the previous training camp and his studies at the academy.

His initial progress was extremely fast; in less than a year, he mastered the knowledge of a discipline up to Level 35.

However, starting from Level 36, Zhang Huaiyuan began to feel a significant increase in difficulty.

The knowledge became more obscure, requiring a considerable amount of time just to decipher a single formula.

It took a full three years to reach Level 37.

And to reach Level 38, it took twelve years.

Until the thirtieth year.

The potion's efficacy was exhausted, and Zhang Huaiyuan put down the book in his hand with a grim expression.

After fifteen years of hard study after reaching Level 38, Level 39 was still nowhere in sight.

"The thing I feared most has happened. It seems I underestimated my seniors; the difficulty of knowledge after Level 35 is far higher than before. No wonder most of them spend thousands of years and still stop at Junior Scholar."

He let out a long sigh in his heart.

Everyone, including the two Tower Lords of Myriad Things and the Virtual Tower, regarded him as the second greatest genius in history.

After all, during the association assessment, the help provided by True Sight was too immense.

But in reality, after coming to the platform of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms, relying solely on the brain expansions brought by his 3S extraordinary level, he was at most only slightly better than geniuses like Fang Qingran.

"At this rate, it will take at least 50 years to decipher Level 39, and to reach Level 40, it will likely take several times longer. Forget mastering all disciplines to a level close to a Junior Scholar, I might not even finish a third of them."

Zhang Huaiyuan pondered, the pressure in his heart mounting.

This competition was not only related to the physical creation of the Statue of Liberty, but more importantly, his Second Senior Brother had used his privileges to move him into the participant list.

If his final performance was lackluster, it would affect not just himself, but the reputation of the entire academy and even the Virtual Tower and the Tower of All Things.

"There is one last way..."

Zhang Huaiyuan focused inward, and a stream of data flowed into his mind.

Current Scholar Level: Apprentice Level (Level 39).

"The new level seems to automatically synchronize with the discipline I have the highest mastery in. If I focus all my efforts on researching Virtual Technology and break through to Level 40, I wonder if I will obtain another brain expansion and a high-speed learning state, just like when I broke through in the initial world."

Thinking this, Zhang Huaiyuan swallowed the remaining two-thirds of the potion in the tube in one go, took down an "Advanced Compulsory Education" book on Virtual Technology, and began to immerse himself in study once again.

"Consciousness Digitization..."

"Detailed explanation of the Box Theory of Virtual and Reality..."

"Blurring the boundaries of reality..."

The difference between a Junior Scholar and an Apprentice in Virtual Technology lay in whether they could achieve true digital immortality.

Of course, ordinary Junior Scholars did not dare to upload their entire consciousness to the network.

After all, the dangers of the virtual world were no less than those of reality.

They would often do their best to create powerful intelligent assistants to guard their digital consciousness.

However... as a disciple of the Virtual Tower of the Time Traveler Association, he didn't have that concern.

Breaking through the intelligent defenses of the Virtual Tower was not much easier than a direct assault on Time Island.

One year... two years... ten years... Under the model construction and understanding provided by True Sight, his research progress in Virtual Technology was far higher than others.

Until the 57th year.

Zhang Huaiyuan finally successfully converted a sliver of consciousness into a special language and uploaded it to a temporarily constructed spatial topology server.

Almost simultaneously, two massive data streams followed closely, flashing with curious points of light.

"Master/Excellency, have you transformed into the same form as us? However, your data is in an unprotected state, which is very unsafe."

"Don't worry, it's just a small breakthrough in research, I'm just doing some simple experiments."

After a brief explanation, Zhang Huaiyuan began to meticulously study the differences in this special language, constantly converting between data and consciousness.

And without him noticing, his Scholar level quietly changed from 39 to 40.

A familiar feeling of sudden enlightenment once again came from deep within his mind.

In an instant, his cognitive activity exploded by more than ten thousand times.

Obscure knowledge became easy to understand, and the knowledge he had previously mastered was rapidly synthesized.

In just a few dozen seconds, he felt he had mastered more than he had in several years of hard study.

Resisting the urge to continue his research, Zhang Huaiyuan quickly took down several discipline texts he was weakest in and began to study earnestly.

This time, he felt an unprecedented clarity.

31... 32... 37... 38... 40.

In less than three years, he reached the minimum requirements for a Junior Scholar in one go.

"The state brought by this advancement seems to last longer than before; there's no sign of it fading yet."

Zhang Huaiyuan was inwardly delighted; not daring to waste time, he immediately switched to the next text to begin studying.

The reason he wanted to master so many disciplines simultaneously was not just to deal with the upcoming competition.

Regarding the path of Virtual Technology, only by having more comprehensive knowledge could the illusory worlds he constructed be closer to reality.

Ten years... a hundred years... time is forgotten during scientific research.

When that feeling of seeing through everything gradually faded, the last discipline finally reached the threshold of Level 40.

Zhang Huaiyuan glanced at the high-hanging timer.

Only 330-some years had passed... wishing everyone a Happy New Year in advance, may everything go smoothly, and may you make a fortune in the New Year!